‘Goliath’ bestseller described as a devastating journey through Israel

New York Times bestselling author Max Blumenthal’s book, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, is described as the author’s devastating journey through Israel and an anatomy of the extremist takeover of a nation.

The book’s publisher states:

What Blumenthal finds is a country overrun by extremists, where the Jewish Right has hijacked constitutional protections for both minorities and those in the majority who dissent. Blumenthal investigates the roots of these cultural and political shifts, as well as the malign American right-wing funders who are bankrolling Israeli extremism. He finds that the country US officials regard as the only foothold of democracy in the Middle East — with which President Obama has said ”[our] bond is unbreakable” — is teetering on the edge of authoritarianism.

Informed by intensive on-the-ground reporting, Goliath paints a vivid portrait of a society turning its back on democracy and uncovers the factors – political, demographic, and psychological – that have transformed a nation.

Blumenthal

As expected, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel is attracting its share of controversy, opening the door for anti-Semitic comments. But it’s not all anti-Semitic. Some of it is downright perceptive.

As one reviewer says: “Einstein once said that Israel was the worst idea the Jews ever had. Israel jumped into a place that presented an impossible situation and they are turning a disaster into a catastrophe.”

Another says: “This book proves what Edward Said declared a long time ago that Zionism is actually Jewish fascism… Now let’s see how many are going to accuse us of “anti Semitism” for opposing Jewish fascism, land theft and other murderous acts.”

And another says: “It is heartening to hear the voices of Jewish people who denounce the situation in Israel -and do so with dignity. It follows the tradition of many Jewish thinkers who have had a passion for social justice. I hope it is an inspiration to those who remain in agonizing darkness.”

Yet another says: “Anti-Israel book that makes even anti-Zionists blush.”

Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel has been described as “a heart-stopper” by truthdig.com contributor Larry Gross in a review that only someone who has lived in Israel could pen.

Here’s some exerpt’s from Gross’ review:

… As I read it the term that came to mind was heart stopper. The book is hard to read, despite its short chapters and accessible prose, because of its relentless parade of facts—details, names, places, events—that add up to a portrait of pain and despair and injustice…

… it is a damning and depressing portrait of a society that has been accustomed to presenting itself to the world as a righteous actor, the “Middle East’s only democracy,” surrounded by implacable enemies and forced to defend itself by any means necessary…

… like so many others, I remain torn between sentiment and love for a landscape and a dream, and anger at the immorality and stupidity of its leaders as well as much of its people…

… the critics also chide Blumenthal for his frequent use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery, especially in several chapter titles. But he can and does offer a defense that counters the charge of glib rhetoric…

… I was also already familiar with the fact that Israelis, like every other nation, could also be racist and intolerant and vicious. I had seen some of this as a teenager, living there before the 1967 war and the occupation. But the accounts of racism and ethnocentrism manifested in Israel today were more extreme and disturbing than anything I had witnessed in the past. Not surprising, perhaps, and not much different from what can be seen in other countries dealing with multiracial and multiethnic populations, but still, as always, disappointing to encounter from Jews. Is this a double standard? You could say so, but then, I was raised with a belief in Jewish values—not religious, mind you, but ethical—that always makes me hope for better.

That brings me to the parts of the book that I found most disturbing: the emergence of right-wing, religious fundamentalist, racist, sexist and anti-democratic forces, not on the fringes of society, but in the Knesset and in the media (it doesn’t help that the most powerful newspaper in Israel these days may well be Metro, owned by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and given away free)…

…Blumenthal concludes with a description of the growing disaffection of younger Israelis, many of whom have emigrated with large numbers, ironically, settling in Germany. For the younger generation in much of the world, and increasingly in the United States, the Palestinians are the victims and Israel is the colonial oppressor. This reality will become only more acute unless the current anti-democratic trends in Israeli political life are reversed, and unless the apparently inexorable destruction of Palestinian society in the West Bank is halted. For all the state sponsored Birthright tours for Jewish youth, the coming generations exposed to YouTube-carried images of raw racism will be a much harder sell for the purveyors of Hasbarah. This is the reason that “Goliath” is a threat to the Israeli status quo—not because it doesn’t have oversights and overstatements; of course it does—but because it tells too many inconvenient truths.

For Larry Gross’s full review go to: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/reading_goliath_inconvenient_truths_20131105

 

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